It’s hard to remember when progressives didn’t become upset because of the Academy Awards. Whether they are complaining about a lack of minority representation or a lack of female influence, they typically find something problematic about the affair. This time was no different. As with previous years, the awards were again turned into a political event.

Progressives targeted their rage towards the movie Green Book, which won the award for best picture. Director Spike Lee, who was nominated for the award for his movie Blackkklansmen, reportedly attempted to storm out of the ceremony when the winner was announced. Journalists and other prominent left-leaning individuals savaged the Academy, claiming that their choice was motivated by — you guessed it — racism.

Scene from Green Book

Leftists Rage at Green Book’s Oscar Win

The movie chronicles the story of jazz pianist Don Shirley as he traveled with his driver and bodyguard Tony Lip across the Jim Crow south. Throughout the course of the film, Shirley – a black man – befriends Lip – a white man of Italian descent – despite their racial differences, and the message of the story is that racism can be overcome through dialogue and mutual understanding.

So what’s the problem? Apparently, the notion that people from different racial backgrounds can become friends is offensive to many on the left, who rushed to criticize the film and its Oscar win. In a piece for The Washington Post, Jan Miles wrote:

“If you watch the movie ‘Green Book,’ you might leave the theater thinking that the people who made the movie are convinced that U.S. racism died one idyllic snowy Christmas Eve in the warm glow of a Bronx apartment in 1962, when black pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) accepted an invitation to dinner from his Italian American driver, Tony Vallelonga (Viggo Mortensen). Roll credits.”

That’s right folks. Supposedly, the entire message of the movie is that racism in America was utterly eliminated because a black musician befriended a white driver. Not to be outdone, Todd Vanderwerff penned an article for Vox in which he argued that the movie somehow absolves white people from their racist tendencies. “The easy answer as to why Green Book remained so popular, all awards season long, has been that it lets white folks off the hook for whatever responsibility we bear for the crushing weight of systemic racism,” he wrote.

Last, but most certainly not least, NBC’s Jenni Miller published a piece arguing that the movie made whites “feel smug and self-congratulatory about race relations.”

To rational individuals, it is apparent that Green Book is not a racist movie, nor does it have a damaging impact on race relations. So what is the real reason the left hates the film?

Why Does the Left Hate These Movies?

If you have been paying attention to the message that progressives have been sending when it comes to race relations, you can see that many of them reject any suggestion that the relationship between whites and minorities has dramatically improved since the 1960s. If the public took their narrative at face value, they would believe that the country is still back in the days of Jim Crow and lynchings.

There is a reason for this.

The success of the progressive agenda is mostly dependent on a divided America. In order to manipulate their base, they have to persuade them to believe that they have an enemy that seeks to oppress them. They endeavor to turn minorities against whites, women against men, gay against straight, and they are having a measure of success. The culmination of their message is: “You are being oppressed, and we are here to protect you.”

If Americans were united, progressives couldn’t use division as a tool of influence. Therefore, a movie that promotes the notion that progress can be made through conversation and a level of mutual respect is anathema to the far left. After all, they can’t have us thinking that we can work out our differences on our own, can they?

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lazarus

Race Relations & Media Affairs Correspondent at LibertyNation.com. A self-confessed news and political junkie, Jeff’s writing has been featured in Small Business Trends, Business2Community, and The Huffington Post. Born in Southern California and having experienced the 1992 L.A. Riots up close and personal, Jeff’s insights are informed by his experiences as a black man and a conservative.Race Relations & Media Affairs Correspondent

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About the author

Race Relations & Media Affairs Correspondent at LibertyNation.com. A self-confessed news and political junkie, Jeff’s writing has been featured in Small Business Trends, Business2Community, and The Huffington Post. Born in Southern California and having experienced the 1992 L.A. Riots up close and personal, Jeff’s insights are informed by his experiences as a black man and a conservative.Race Relations & Media Affairs Correspondent